From Weakness comes strength
by Deathpenguin37
Summary: Our strength is often composed of the weaknesses we're damned of we're going to show! As for all that is strong greatness comes from using it right. Rated M just to be safe. past MinxKush eventual NarxSak pos others later
1. Prologue

**From weakness comes strength.**

A plot bunny bit my brain with this one and I had to get it out, but as Kuromizo no Ariana knows they can be useful.

Anyway on the story.

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_The sky overhead swirled angrily with black and red, the heavens themselves were mimicking the battle. Through the violent flashes of wild lightening the destruction could be perceived; an unnatural clearing created from the flattened trees of a once tall and proud forest now burning__, smoke clouding the air. _

_The great walls which once would have loomed up behind him, solid and imposing, __had been reduced to rubble, the houses and shops, peoples lives – decimated!_

_The raging firelight and skies wrath illuminated the scene, throwing into stark relief the mutilated bodies of those he counted as friends, abundant among the silhouettes of those who will fight no more are the pools of brilliant scarlet blood, the same colour as the enemies fur. It's as though the chaos, the destruction, the blood and pain feeds him._

_His breath is coming in heavy now; he's almost at his limit, his chakra used up in trying to halt the demons advance, to never let it come to this._

_He had made a final dash into the village, making use of his infamous speed, and collected the hope of a nation from his mothers side, his last chance to tell the woman how much he loved her, but he had arrived too late. He hefted the bundle in his strong arms freeing his hands to make seals. Abruptly his viewpoint shifted and he looked out over the few remaining tree tops, straight into the mad eyes of hell__, and felt no fear, only a calm assurance that there was no other way._

_The great toad beneath his feet shifted, silently asking to do battle, the man answered in the negative he only needed the height to keep those still fighting away from the death he was about to bring._

_Rapidly flying through a new set of seals, he half turned to view his fate – the Death God. Grinning at the man, raising his sword and driving into the mans chest and out, straight through to the fox. Strange, the man thought, that there was no pain only a feeling of cold. The scream of outrage told the man that the demon did not agree. There were eons of promised pain and suffering in that scream and it was all directed at him. But still no fear was felt only resignation, for the villages salvation was done although the price to be paid was high._

_The fox's soul was dragged out of his enraged corporeal form and channelled directly into the seal he had drawn on the baby's stomach – the hope of a nation. His own soul was slowly dragged out from his body and suspended briefly. Hw watched the toad vanish an his body, still clutching the baby protectively fall, he could only hope that the child would be okay._

_He stared full into the face of death even as it opened its mouth to swallow him whole, he opened his mouth to scream as he was devoured but to his horror he couldn't make a sound, his body may have died, but his soul would live forever, soundlessly screaming out its pain into the void._

_

* * *

_

Suddenly the screaming got louder, but as Naruto bolted upright he realised that the terrified screaming was his own voice, shrieking in absolute horror at the dream he knew to have been true.

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Well thats the prologue, if anyone wants another chapter up you're going to have to feed the review monster, shes hungry.


	2. Chapter 1

**From weakness comes strength!**

Big thanks to my beta, Kuromizo no Ariana, for looking over this one.

Disclaimer: forgot this last chapter but never mind, I'm neither male nor japanese so i suppose Naruto is not mine.

On with the tale...

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Chapter 1

Naruto sat upright in bed shaking uncontrollably, his legs curled in on themselves he hugged his chest with his arms as he tried to calm his breathing down. Using an exercise that was frequently used in chakra meditation, he slowly breathed in through the nose and then out through the mouth. He closed his eyes and kept at it until his racing heartbeat dropped back down to normal levels.

He ran a still slightly shaking hand through the damp, sweating locks of his spiky blonde hair and turned to face the window looking out over the streets of Konoha, the sky was still dark, the sun had not yet risen, everyone was still in bed, except the night patrol ninja of course.

Knowing that he would never get back to sleep, Naruto kicked the covers away from his legs and rose from the lumpy mattress, giving up on the night as a lost cause.

He staggered the few steps to the small bathroom, a weak feeling in his legs that had nothing to do with how tired he was. That dream disturbed him so much; it had been plaguing his sleep for weeks now, at first he would only catch glimpses of it, but recently the entire tale would play itself out in his head and it always ended the same way – with the mans death. Although Naruto didn't know the man, despite him seeming familiar, he always felt profoundly sad when he died at the end, as though he had lost something vital and irreplaceable.

He raised his eyes to the small, cracked mirror adorning the otherwise plain walls and studied his reflection; when had he started to disappear along with the man in his dreams? Blonde hair hung limply around the much too prominent bones of his cheeks and eyebrows, his blue eyes, set into dark, shrunken hollows, were dull and lifeless.

He raised thin, trembling fingers and carefully brushed at the skin along his cheekbones feeling bone beneath paper-thin skin. Had he not been eating? He thought he had, but now he couldn't remember. I'll go and see the old-hag in the morning he decided.

He suddenly gasped as white-hot pain ripped through his stomach, sending him crashing down onto his knees with the force of it. Feeling as though his stomach had been slashed open Naruto gripped the small, grimy basin with both hands and heaved himself to his feet. Definitely going to see the Hokage he thought, before the pain hit him again even more intensely this time. Dimly he felt the side of head impact with the basin as he fell but before he could check if he was hurt his vision faded to black.

* * *

There we go another chapter done.

The chapters will probably be quite short, although they may increase in length later

but at least updates will be frequent.

You know the drill, feed the review monster.


	3. Chapter 2

Yay I'm back, a bit longer than expected but my internet was down, so I was late sending it to my beta, Kuromizo no Ariana, big thanks and hugs by the way, but its here now right?

The rating will change slightly in this chapter and probably from here on out, from a T to an M, I think this is right, I'm not very good at th ratings, so if its wrong could someone please tell me?

Also thankyou to my reviewers: mangalover248, densetsunosannin, MrsHellman, BlackFoxDemon and of course Kuromizo no Ariana.

And on with the story.

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Chapter 2.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes to see…nothing. He blinked and shook his head wondering if he still had his eyes shut. Once he was sure they were indeed open he raised his head a few inches off the ground and was startled to find that he was lying in water.

Grimacing in distaste, he pushed himself to his feet and peered through the darkness trying in vain to see something, anything, some shape or form to tell him where he was. As far as he knew he had been lying in his bathroom when he had blacked out thanks to that stomach pain.

Wondering what he should do, he wasn't able to sense any other chakra signatures besides his own, as far as he could tell he was alone; vaguely he picked a direction and began walking.

His feet splashed through the shallow water that covered the floor, he tried calling but his own voice just returned to him in an eerie echo accompanying the steady drip of water that he had been hearing since he woke up. Feeling suddenly afraid Naruto picked up the pace and began to run, sending water flying up behind him. Some distant part of his brain warned him that running blindly in an unknown place wasn't a good idea but it was silenced by his fear and his compulsion to get away.

Dimly he realised that the unending black was getting a little hazy, sort of fuzzy around the edges, spots of sooty yellow were looming up out of the darkness. As Naruto neared he realised that torches were set into high metal brackets in stone walls, they light provided by these showed him that he was running down a corridor made of stone bricks.

Naruto's eye widened with realisation as to where he was; he did not come here often, the last time was when he was off training with Jiraiya for two and a half years. He had entered the seal; he was in the lair of the Kyuubi.

Naruto, armed now with the knowledge of where he was, although not what he was doing there, began walking once more. He would eventually end up in front of the sealed gates containing the demon no matter which way he walked.

The first time Naruto had entered the seal had been when he was twelve and the pervy sage pushed him off a cliff. The sides of the cliff had been too slippery and he had been falling too fast for him to grab on with his own chakra and he had needed to call upon the foxes. Entering the seal he had challenged the fox to give up some of his own chakra and the fox had acquiesced, although grudgingly.

Since then he had found out that the foxes continued survival depended on his own, so it was not surprising that the fox had saved them then, and it had not entirely been the manner with which he had dealt with the fox. He supposed that loud and abrasive would be something the fox would respond to, well more so than pleading anyway, that manner was also a defence mechanism he hid behind when he was feeling anxious or scared, so in this circumstance it would serve him well.

However, the second time he had entered the seal, when training with Jiraiya, the demon had spoken to him properly, albeit scathingly, about what was going wrong with his jutsu. The fox warned him to back off his chakra as he was using too much, which was not only causing the jutsu to fail but also him to lose consciousness due to chakra overload which was how he ended up in the seal.

He hoped that the fox would be in a similar mood now, and would give him answers as to what was going on. The dream he kept having felt like a memory, although it was not his own, so Naruto supposed that it must therefore belong to his unwelcome tenant.

"Naruto," the deep voice purred out of the darkness, drawing out his name. He had arrived at the great gates of gold, held tightly shut by the Fourth's seal.

Naruto stepped up to the gates and fixed his blue eyes on the single red one he could see in the darkness beyond. The huge eye narrowed as it stared back malevolently. "How am I here?" he demanded.

"How are you here," the demon echoed mockingly, his voice a hiss in the dark.

Naruto scowled, "Don't fuck with me fox-bastard," he warned. The demon growled, low and menacingly. Naruto shivered involuntarily, the tiny golden hairs on his arms and at the nape of his neck stood up. "What do you know of my dreams?"

The Kyuubi's eye narrowed to a slit, "Your dreams? Why would I bother with such trivial matters?"

Naruto snarled, "They're memories and they're not mine."

"Indeed, so you accuse me?"

"You're the only other one here," Naruto ground out through clenched teeth.

"The fox sighed, "True, alright boy, what are these _memories_?"

"I see them from the point of a man, atop Gamabunta. He's holding a baby and he's fighting _you_."

Naruto stopped as the demon hissed, his eye growing large. He leapt back suddenly as one of the foxes mighty tails lashed out against the gate causing the seal to glow. "Minato!" The fox snarled angrily, "Let me guess, the Shinigami rose and I was sealed."

Naruto blinked, "Yeah, are they your memories? Who's Minato?"

The demon laughed, Naruto shuddered, it sounded much like nails scrapping down a chalk board. "Use your head brat, if I was _in _the memory how could they be mine?"

Naruto bristled, "But if I was seeing your sealing, then…?" He gasped, "The Fourth Hokage." The Kyuubi growled. "But how am I seeing his memories?"

"It would appear," the demon purred, "That your seal is weakening."

Naruto simply stared for a second before that statement hit him, "WHAT? What do you mean the seal is weakening? Bastard fox! How did you get that conclusion?"

"The deal between the Fourth and the Shinigami was his soul in exchange for me being sealed. If he's starting to break through then I must be busting out."

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A little longer than previous chapters, but still not very long.

Anywho you all know the drill with the hungry review monster...


	4. Chapter 3

Here I am again with another chapter up.

Have I actually done a disclaimer yet? I can't remember and am far too lazy to check, so just in case "I own nothing except various aspects of the plot."

* * *

Chapter 3.

Naruto woke with a start, echoes of the demons laughter fading in his mind. For a moment he lay there on the bathroom floor groggily, what had woken him anyway?

"NARUTO!"

Huh? What? That sounds like Sakura.

"Naruto if you don't get your ass out here right now, then I'm going to break down your door!"

Yep, definitely Sakura. He tried to answer but his tongue felt about three times too big for his mouth, had he bitten it when he fell? How long had he been unconscious?

A crash reverberated throughout the small apartment, making Naruto wince and put his hand to a throbbing pain in his head, his fingertips felt wet as they met his hair and he pulled his hand back not at all surprised to see it covered in blood.

The door to bathroom flew open unceremoniously to admit an angry kunoichi, Naruto's breath caught; Sakura was beautiful when she was angry. Her short pink hair was dishevelled and her cheeks were flushed, but her sea green eyes sparkled. She was at the moment, however, glaring fiercely. Naruto winced, Sakura, on occasion, could have a nasty temper, and although since Sasuke had left they had become much closer as friends, he could still manage to get on the wrong side of it.

Sakura's gaze fell upon the blonde shinobi sprawled on the floor and she gave a sharp intake of breath, her anger fading swiftly to concern. "Naruto what happened?" she asked as she knelt beside him and began checking the wound on his head.

"Fell and hit my head," he answered with difficulty, tasting a metallic coppery tang he deduced that he had indeed bitten his tongue when he fell.

Sakura frowned, still probing his head with infinitely gentle fingers, Naruto unconsciously leaned slightly into her touch, startled she drew away at once. Naruto almost whimpered at the loss of contact but a wave of dizziness rose up and he almost slumped to the floor.

Catching him at the last moment, Sakura supported him as he manoeuvred himself into a sitting position. "You fell?" she asked suspiciously.

Naruto nodded wincing as he did so, "Yeah."

"Well you have a concussion, so you're going to have to come with me to the hospital. How did you fall?"

Naruto stared at her blankly before the pieces fell into place, "Oh shit," he gasped.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"I have to see Tsunade right away."

"Sure, she'll be at the hospital, where we're going now," Sakura added pointedly. Naruto ignored her. "Naruto?"

"What? Yeah?"

"What's wrong?"

"We've got a big problem."

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Oh god are they getting shorter?

ok I promise that the next one will be at least double the size, if not triple.

You guys all know the drill.


	5. Chapter 4

I'm back...

Don't own nothing - don't sue.

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Chapter 4.

Sakura's heels clicked across the tiled floor of the hospital entrance. Naruto vaguely wondered how she not only walked but also _fought _in them.

Once, some months ago, when the two of them had gotten a little tipsy after a difficult mission he'd tried them on and had promptly fallen over, it had taken him several tries to manage an ungainly walk and he'd considered it quite a feat. Sakura had not, had thrown a bottle at him and had told him that he looked drunk, to which he'd replied that he was so why did it matter? That puzzled her so much that she'd forgotten he was wearing her shoes, he had also forgotten and had been confused as to why Kiba had laughed at him so much the next day, until he realised he was still wearing them.

"Where's Tsunade-sama please?" Sakura leaned across the desk and briefly checked a chart on the wall.

"She's dealing with some ninja who were injured on a mission in room 26 Sakura-san," the girl behind the desk replied. Naruto smiled slightly at the tone of awe in the girls voice. Sakura didn't notice.

"Thank you Suzume," Sakura smiled. "Come on Naruto."

Naruto scowled as he followed her to the stairs, Sakura had been adamant that he needed to go to the hospital. He didn't see why, it was just a bump on the head he got them all the time, on missions, during training, not a big deal.

She had also wanted to know what the problem was, but the fear that was now coiling around in his gut had prevented him from articulating it to her. He had tried but had become so wound up with worry that he soon gave up. He was terrified that the fox had been telling the truth and really was breaking free. That would mean the end of Konoha and everyone in it, including Sakura, he paled at the thought.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked. He turned to look at her. "You suddenly went pale, are you ok?"

Naruto nodded and flashed her a cheesy grin, "Of course," he replied brightly.

It seemed to placate her, but as soon as she turned away and walked off down a corridor lined with doors the grin fell from his face, sighing he followed her.

Sakura stopped outside a door marked 26 and knocked. A moment later a woman's voice barked "Yes?"

Sakura motioned for Naruto to remain where he was and entered the room. Naruto leaned against the wall and slowly slid down it to rest on the floor. His head was throbbing where he'd banged it, his tongue had thankfully stopped bleeding although it still felt swollen and his stomach was burning. He just wanted to go to sleep and end this nightmare.

The door banged open and two pairs of heels clicked over to him. He raised his head from his hands and looked up to meet the brown eyes of the Fifth Hokage, Sakura standing to the side and slightly behind her. "Up," Tsunade said crisply, "come with me."

She led the two teenagers to an empty room further down the hall. "On the bed," she gestured to the freshly made bed against the wall. Naruto sat. "Lean forwards." She gently touched the cut on his head; Naruto drew a breath in sharply with pain then let it out as the warmth of her chakra at her fingertips healed it. "Look at me," she said then slapped his head, "At my face brat."

Naruto scowled, he hadn't actually been looking at her breasts, they were just in the way of his eyes path to her face.

"Tsunade-sama he may have a concussion," Sakura intervened.

Ah his saving grace.

Tsunade raised one slim golden eyebrow, "He doesn't have concussion, do you?" she addressed Naruto.

"Probably not," he agreed, keeping one eye on her fists.

She examined him with a critical eye, "Sakura, wait outside please."

Sakura nodded and withdrew.

"You don't look good," she said bluntly. Naruto huffed a soft laugh. "Have you been eating? Sleeping?"

The blonde haired teenager shook his head softly, "Not really."

Tsunade stood there and waited for him to explain.

"There may be a problem with the seal, is ero-sennin around?"

Tsunade nodded, then walked to the door, "Sakura put a call out for Jiraiya would you?"

Naruto could almost see the pink haired kunoichi's startled expression, "Jiraiya? At once Hokage-sama."

Tsunade nodded and closed the door again, the sounds of Sakura's shoes faded as the blonde Hokage started a myriad of little tests, such as measuring Naruto's blood pressure, that somehow always managed to escalate into full blown tests.

Thankfully, before that happened, Jiraiya appeared at the window. Perching on the window sill, the Toad Sage surveyed the room's occupants, "What's up?" he asked.

"Naruto asked for you to be here," Tsunade said calmly, sitting in the room's chair.

Jiraiya turned to the blonde, "Well?" he asked.

Naruto took a deep breath and told them everything; he told them of the dream fragments that had disturbed his sleep for months, he spoke of his feeling that they were memories; he recounted that night's final dream. He allowed Tsunade to examine him when he told the two Sannin of the stomach pain that made him collapse. He spoke of his visit to the fox's cage and recounted their conversation as best he could. When he revealed the demons final words Jiraiya examined his seal.

The white haired man removed his hands from Naruto's stomach and motioned for him to pull down his top. Naruto did so. "Well?" he asked.

Jiraiya frowned, "I can't tell," he replied, "The demon may be lying, or he could be telling the truth and I simply can't pick it up."

Tsunade sighed, "So there's no way of telling?"

"I'm not sure, this is the only seal like this in existence, the Fourth created it and only used it the once, it's a cunning masterpiece that I can't unravel enough to tell if it's weakening or not."

"So we can't…" Naruto doubled over in pain, hands clutching at his stomach. Strong hands caught him and helped him onto the bed. His top was pulled up and he relaxed slightly as Tsunade's chakra soothed away much of the pain.

"Are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

Naruto nodded.

"Well that's that," Jiraiya said dejectedly, "The seals definitely weakening."

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The plot thickens - oooh

Review monster is hungry again...


	6. Chapter 5

Hello everyone, I'm back.

I apologise the wait, but with exams and my driving test (I passed – yay) things were a tad hectic.

Also I wanted to make this a really good chapter and a long one as well as people were asking for longer chapters. So from now on I shall endeavour to create at least six pages of awesomeness.

Well things really start happening in this chapter, towards the end anyway, and the next instalment should be great – you'll see.

Any way, hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 5.

Naruto slowly walked through the village, hands shoved deep into pockets, so wrapped up in his thoughts that he was barely avoiding bumping into people.

"Naruto!"

And unable to hear people too for that matter.

The seal was breaking. After that attack at the hospital Jiraiya had explained that as the pain flared so had the seal, the chakra the fox was releasing was corroding the seal away, already it was fading, soon it would be too weak to contain the demon.

"Naruto, wait up."

_But when that happened, what then? Would the demon breaking free kill him? Would it even matter if it did? If…no, when the demon broke free, it would destroy Konoha. No one had the power to stop it; even the Fourth had to give his life to seal the demon. That couldn't be recreated; Konoha would fall along with everyone in it._

"God Naruto, are you deaf or what?"

_NO! That was unacceptable, Konoha will not be allowed to fall, the people will not die. Sakura will NOT die! I will not allow that to happen. IF the demon breaks lose, I WILL stop it. I WILL protect everyone! _

Naruto stopped walking and clenched his fists, so that blood welled up in his palms were his nails had bitten into his flesh. The pain cleared his mind slightly and he glanced at his white knuckled fists. As he raised his head pink filled his vision, startled he took a hasty step back. "Sakura?"

"Geez Naruto I've been calling you for ages." Sakura glared at him as he sheepishly raised his hand to the back of his head, his hair was greasy, his skin stretched almost painfully tight – he felt hollow, he knew that he was not.

"Sorry about that, I was thinking." His bloody hand smeared ruby droplets over the nape of neck, he grimaced, the action did not go unnoticed.

"Naruto?" Sakura reached for his hands. Holding them in hers she inspected the tiny wounds. Sea green eyes met blue and Naruto almost melted as Sakura's warm, soft chakra knit his skin back together. After the pain and fear of Kyuubi it felt good to feel something pleasant.

Belatedly he realised that Sakura was talking and it was with some effort that he focused on her voice instead of her silky, smooth chakra. "…ran off without treatment, you're not looking good, Tsunade-sama wants you on a drip and rest, I'm supposed to take you back to the hospital."

Naruto blanched, he had indeed jumped out of the window after Jiraiya's revelation when their backs were turned. Tsunade would no doubt be pissed! He wasn't afraid of the Sannin, but he dreaded returning to the hospital; the demons state was a serious matter, Tsunade would have to report it to the village elders, they would order him locked up or…something. They had tried that when the Akatsuki were after him – for him to stay within the village. Naruto chaffed at confinement, it was almost like claustrophobia although he wasn't afraid of confined places, just confinement.

"I'm fine; I'm not going back there."

Sakura simply looked at him, "No, I didn't think you would."

Naruto smiled then, a warm smile that actually reached his eyes and made the blue brighter and the hollows less sunken. He had not smiled like that since the dreams began, no…further than that, since Sasuke left and never returned. But all it took was this wonderful person, who simply _got _him, who understood, who had shared some of that pain and had come out the other end stronger, to just put into words everything that he was feeling.

_Won't let him go!_

_Won't let it rule me!_

_Won't let them down!_

_Won't go down without a fight!_

_No I didn't think you would…_

"Look lets go back to my place, I'll make some lunch for us," Sakura offered.

"Yeah ok," Naruto grinned.

"Is there anything you'd like?"

"Ramen?"

* * *

"I'm NOT making ramen!"

"Please?"

Sakura sighed, "Do you have any idea how unhealthy that stuff is?" The two teens were in her kitchen, she was rifling through cupboards and Naruto seated at the breakfast bar making puppy dog eyes at her in an attempt to cajole ramen out of her.

"Its not unhealthy," Naruto gasped, "Its delicious."

"I'll make something else," Sakura said firmly.

"There's other stuff?"

_Oh you ramen freak!_

Twenty minutes later, lunch was ready; Sakura had cooked okonomiyaki with onigiri yaki, a recipe that her mother favoured. Sakura had been schooled in the art of making rice balls since she was small and she was pleased that these had turned out perfectly, sticky and fluffy.

Naruto suspiciously poked at the okonomiyaki and hesitantly raised a small piece to his mouth. After swallowing that morsel he devoured the rest with much more gusto. Sakura smiled; it was about time he started eating properly. "That was really good, what was it?"

"Cabbage, primarily."

Naruto blanched; oh he _so_ had _not _just eaten cabbage.

"But …"

Sakura smiled sweetly, "Yes?"

"Nothing."

* * *

The sun was setting; it cast a golden glow over the brightly coloured houses of Konoha. The sky was a brilliant yellow and red, fading fast into deep blue high above the Hokage Mountain, where Naruto sat watching.

His thoughts were in a jumble, was that a date with Sakura? A lunch invitation was a date wasn't it? But he'd been asking her out for years, since they were twelve, that was more than five years, and she'd always turned him down, usually accompanied by a fist in his face. So what had changed?

Was it the Kyuubi and the state of the seal, was she saying goodbye. No she believed in him, he was certain of it. And besides she'd asked him to lunch before he had even told her about the conversation with the Sannin – that had been a fun conversation.

"_You can help with the dishes," Sakura said handing him a dishcloth._

_Naruto looked at it blankly, "What do I do with this?"_

"_What have you never done dishes before?"_

"_No."_

"_You dry the dishes that I hand to you and then put them away."_

"_Sakura, I need to tell you something."_

_Sakura looked at him suspiciously, "Is this a way to get out of helping?"_

_Naruto shook his head slowly. Sakura put the dish cloth on the side, drew out a chair at the table and sat down, "What is it?" she asked quietly._

_Naruto sat facing her and stared at the table, the hollows in his face and lankness of his hair and skin even more pronounced. One good meal isn't going to do it Sakura thought,__ there's something else going on here, not just his diet and lack of sleep. "Naruto? What's wrong?" _

"_The seals breaking."_

_Sakura drew in a sharp intake of breath. "The Kyuubi," she breathed, green eyes wide with fear._

_Naruto raised his eyes from the table, "Yes."_

"_How long?" Sakura asked, her voice quavering slightly, she had seen the demon cloak over Naruto become four tails and the devastation had been fantastic, she had never felt such evil and fear, the idea of an unconstrained nine-tailed demon was terrifying._

"_I don't know."_

Naruto had taken a risk in telling Sakura, he certainly wasn't going to tell anyone else, people's reaction to the mere mention of the demon was often violent, this was the being that had attacked their home, killed their people and destroyed their beloved Fourth Hokage.

But Sakura had been there by him through it all, when they first became ninja, their Chuunin exam, Sasuke leaving, the Fox taking him over, they had seen each other at their best and worst and not only where they still standing they were still standing together. And Naruto had never been so grateful for anything.

He sighed as the sun set over the taller roofs, leaving a dusky cast in the air, a chilled breeze blew through the thick forests behind him, scattering leaves in its wake. Goosebumps sprang up over the flesh of Naruto's bear arms, skin that had lost so much of its colour, leaving paleness and frailty behind.

He liked it up here at this time of night, the peace and quiet, actually he liked it up here at any time, the climb was too long and steep for civilians to make the attempt, and few ninja ever did. The Sandaime used to, the old man and Naruto would often spend time together perched on top of the previous Hokages heads, the Third wouldn't sit on his own head, he thought the idea was strange, neither would he sit on the carving of the Fourth, and although Naruto had often asked, no reason was ever forthcoming. Then the old man died during the Chuunin exam battle with Orochimaru, so now, he supposed, he would never get one.

Naruto liked to sit on the Fourth's head, he felt safe and at peace, as though the stone would protect him, he liked to imagine he could hear the voice of the man on the wind around him, feel his strength through the stone.

Naruto had never met the previous Hokage, at least that he could remember, he supposed he must have seen the man as he sealed the demon into his belly, but at only an hour old he could not remember what he had seen. He had seen the world through the Fourth's eyes in his dreams, and that brief insight into the mans mind, although frightening, was something that Naruto was secretly proud to experience.

The Fourth Hokage was Naruto's hero, despite that he had sealed the demon into him, he had never felt resentment for this, he was proud to have been chosen and admired the Fourth immensely for his courage and strength in performing the sealing.

He had confessed this to Jiraiya once, when the old pervert had asked him if he hated the Fourth for what he did. When Naruto had spoken of his feelings about the matter and had looked up to the sky with a genuine smile upon his face, he had missed the look of awe and pride that crossed Jiraiya's features.

Naruto stretched his legs out over the top of the Fourth's head, feeling the muscles stretch. He reclined back on his hands and watched the world fade into darkness as the sun disappeared. The village was softly illuminated by lamps lit by the patrolling Shinobi.

A rough cry pierced the stillness of the night, although it took Naruto a moment to fight past the pain searing through his stomach to comprehend that the voice screaming was his. The pain was coming more intensely than he'd ever felt it, his stomach was being ripped out by white-hot pokers.

His eyes were screwed up tight, his eyelids burning with a flash of red and yellow. Sakura's face flashed through his mind and it was over, darkness took over the world and the last thing he was conscious of was a pair of strong arms going around him, _Kyuubi?_

* * *

Feed the review monster to find out who it is, as if you don't know already...


	7. Chapter 6

Arrghhh, God this is appallingly late isn't it? Really, really, really sorry, I have no real excuse except that things sorta crept up on me and this got pushed to the back for a while, but I am still here.

I felt that I should give all you lovely people something, so here you are, but the next instalment won't be up right away, I've run out of pre-written chapters – scary.

Any way enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 6.

Two dark silhouettes both whipped their heads round at the sound of an agonised scream. The street they were standing on was softly illuminated by a street lamp and the fuzzy lights coming from peoples windows. The two shinobi had only just started patrol and had been expecting a quiet night.

Quickly and silently they leaped upwards onto the rooftops in a small puff of smoke and sped across to the Hokage Mountain. Once on top a matter a few seconds later, they were greeted with the astonishing sight of …nothing.

One shinobi scouted around briefly then lifted a large hand and scratched at the thin scraggly hairs growing on the back of his neck, "I could have sworn that scream came from here."

"Yeah," his companion agreed, "we should raise the alarm, someone was hurt up here."

"Other patrols will have already done so," the first shinobi replied.

* * *

"Lady Tsunade," a panting ninja burst through the heavy doors of the Hokage office.

"What is it?" The Godaime Hokage was standing with her back to the door, beyond the desk, facing the large windows that looked out over the village. Her arms were folded across her chest and she was frowning up at the carvings of her predecessors.

"There was a scream of pain from up on the Hokage Mountain, Lady Hokage, but the patrols were not able to find anyone, however there was evidence of a recent disturbance."

"There was no sign of anyone up there?" Tsunade asked, "Perform a search of the surrounding area and report back."

"Yes Lady Tsunade."

Tsunade sighed as the door closed; the news of a scream from the same direction was troubling. Was it before or after the light? She wondered.

"Yo Tsunade!"

The blonde woman rolled her eyes and turned in the direction of the side windows, just as she'd expected, Jiraiya was perched on the sill, sake bottle in hand. "Jiraiya, we may have a problem."

"Indeed, we do," the Toad Sage rumbled expansively.

"So you know already?" Tsunade raised one slim elegant eyebrow; somehow she doubted Jiraiya was that clued in, especially with the sound of only half a bottle of sake swishing around in the bottle clutched in his wrinkled hand. Inwardly she shuddered, how could Jiraiya simply wear his age like that?

"Of course I know," Jiraiya waved his hands dramatically, "The holes been boarded over, my research will suffer, it's an outrage, the public menace responsible must be caught and punished!"

Tsunade snarled at him and barely restrained herself from punching him clean through the wall, they had bigger problems than Jiraiya's pervertedness, and the Elders had been on at her to pay the damages from her next fit of rage herself.

"You drunken fool," she practically screamed at him, the look of shock on his happy face was some small triumph. "I mean bigger problems than your damned peeping!"

Tsunade seriously doubted that Jiraiya was ever really as drunk as he pretended to be, it was simply a way of making people underestimate him. The Fourth had shown him the advantages of that and both the young Hokages sensei and student had learned well, like Kakashi ever actually read the porn he carried around, seriously had no one ever noticed he'd been reading the same page of the same book for nearly fifteen years? And true to Tsunade's suspicions the white haired pervert sobered up remarkably quickly.

"What is it?" he asked, his deep serious voice making her soften her eyes and tone.

"The patrols reported a scream and signs of disturbance from atop the Hokage Mountain but no people."

"A scream? A scared scream or a hurt scream?" Jiraiya asked.

"A hurt scream," Tsunade affirmed.

"Naruto?" Jiraiya immediately snapped his head up and locked eyes with Tsunade trying to gage her views and suspicions. The blonde Hokage did not miss the concern in his eyes.

He'd jumped to the conclusion as she had, the seal corroding away must be especially painful, and the brat had run off from the hospital before she cold do anything about it. Naruto was also known to frequent the top of the Hokage Mountain, with Akatsuki around Tsunade always knew of the boys whereabouts.

"Maybe, I saw a yellow light up there a short time ago, I think it was around the time the patrols heard the scream."

"A yellow light?" Jiraiya asked sharply. "Akatsuki?"

"I don't know, perhaps." Tsunade sounded worried Jiraiya noted, her concern for the boy also ran deep, he truly had reached her during their fight with Orochimaru, strong bonds were formed on that day.

"I'll check his apartment."

* * *

Naruto fought the darkness, he could hear screams. _The Kyuubi, it must have broken free, it's destroying Konoha, I have to stop it!_

He couldn't open his eyes, darkness was pressing his lids down, he tried to lift his arms, but they felt like they were made of lead. He wanted to scream from feeling so helpless, while his precious people were being hurt.

Naruto didn't know how long he had been unconscious, dimly he tried to gather his thoughts, the last thing he could remember was the immense pain in his stomach – the seal ripping open. And then he was falling but someone, _or something, _caught him.

He tried to speak, but his mouth felt like sandpaper and his tongue was swollen from thirst. As feeling returned to his limbs he became aware of his surroundings somewhat, through his senses of sound, touch and smell.

He could hear, wind blowing through trees, leaves rustling along the ground and a trickle of water somewhere. Birds could also be heard, chirping their morning songs. He was somewhere in the forest, in the early morning.

He could feel rough scratchiness beneath his back and limbs, comfortable yet slightly itchy. A soft breeze was playing across his face, moving his bangs gently across his forehead. His legs were cool but his face was pleasantly warm, as though it was in sunlight.

He could smell the sharp tang of hay, was he lying on a straw bed? And the smell of the forest early in the morning. He could also smell himself slightly, the smell of someone whose sick. But under these scents was another scent, an unplaceable one, the smell of another person, pleasantly familiar although Naruto had never met this person before. Using the Foxes heightened sense of smell Naruto let the persons scent wrap around him. It was masculine and pleasant.

Naruto croaked as he tried to exclaim with delight, belatedly he had realised that using the demons abilities meant that the Fox was still caged and Konoha was safe. _But then who caught me?_

* * *

Ooohhh cliffie…

Is it? Its not a very good cliffie really but oh well


	8. Chapter 7

I felt so guilty about the massive wait for chapter 6 that I'm giving you all chapter 7 early. I'm nice like that.

This is for the reviewers of chapter 6;

TenTen Sama

Starfire201

and animefan28

Thankyou guys.

* * *

Chapter 7.

* * *

Jiraiya entered Naruto's apartment through his customary way – the window. _You'd think the kid would have better security, considering the part of the village he lives in and how many villagers still hate him._ Still, Jiraiya had to concede, Naruto could definitely look after himself, _especially after being trained by me._

"Naruto?" Jiraiya called, a trace of irritation layering his voice, it wouldn't do to let the kid think he was here because he was worried after all, if Naruto was here he could simply knick the poor boys beloved "Gama-chan".

When no answer was forthcoming, the Toad Hermit did a quick sweep of the main rooms, actually there were only three rooms anyway, the bathroom, kitchen and bedroom/living room.

"Shit!" Jiraiya set off towards the Hokage tower at double speed, Tsunade must be told and a team must be organised, Naruto was missing.

* * *

Slowly Naruto began to regain some movement, his eyes opened first; as his vision adjusted he saw that he was lying on a roughly made bed of hay at the back of what appeared to be a barn, with small dirty windows but plenty of holes in the walls and roof.

He raised his hand slightly next, just enough to see a large open door, with sunlight streaming in, an open grassy area lay beyond the door with trees beyond that. No one appeared to be around.

It was several minutes more before he'd regained enough feeling in his arms to prop himself up and take a good look at the building he was in. It was definitely a deserted barn, rundown and empty apart from him and his hastily thrown together bed.

Naruto had never been here before, had no memory of how he got here now. Panic began to rise like bile in his throat. Actually he was pretty sure he was going to be sick. His stomach lurched but his throat convulsed and closed. The experience left him feeling weak and shaky, but the immediate feeling passed.

Still, his situation though, whichever way he looked at it, was dire. He was in an unknown place with no idea where he was or who put him here, because he certainly hadn't done it himself, and no idea who that person was and if they were an enemy or not. The only good thing was that the Kyuubi still appeared to be caged.

Carefully Naruto tried to rise; he had no idea how long he'd been unconscious but judging by how dry his mouth was it had been quite a while. Wherever the sound of water was coming from his first priority was getting over there, and then he'd get out of here.

Slowly Naruto got to his feet; the Kyuubi's chakra had really done a number on him. Everything just _hurt_. He staggered a few steps towards the door, his muscles shaking so badly he could barely stand upright. From his new height he could see a small pool just outside and slightly to the right of the door. He headed in that direction, his swollen tongue filling his mouth and reminding him of just how thirsty he was.

After what seemed like an eternity to Naruto's protesting body, he arrived at the door and leant against the frame to catch his breath. He was feeling as winded as though he'd just run a _very_ long marathon, with _Lee_. The frame creaked alarmingly and Naruto hastily took his weight of the wood, he bit down hard on tongue to quell the pained scream that rose to his dry, cracked lips at the sudden movement. Blood filled his mouth with a coppery tang.

Finding that his legs no longer had the strength to support him, Naruto sank to his knees and crawled the last few feet to the pool before gingerly scooping up the clear water and slurping it up. It tasted sweet.

Having drunk his fill and loosened his tongue slightly Naruto tried to rise. It was time to leave the barn, to get away from whoever had brought him here, although he yet to even sense a chakra signature in the vicinity yet alone see his saviour/attacker, Naruto still didn't know why he had been brought here. Most people weren't exactly friendly towards him, although the village had been slowly getting better.

The blonde tried to push himself up off the mossy ground with his hands, the water was churning in his stomach, accentuating rather than cooling the embers that still gripped it. His legs shook and his torso flared with pain, the demons chakra had obviously done a lot of damage when it last tried to escape. Naruto's head started to spin and his vision doubled, then went black.

He heard the fox's voice in his head. "_You fool!"_

* * *

Tsunade laced her fingers together and rested her chin on them, elbows on the desk she looked perfectly at ease, the glint in her eyes and the tightness of her mouth screamed that she was not.

Shizune stood behind and slightly to the right of her master, Tonton clasped protectively to her chest, the black haired med-nin looked worried, facts that did not escape the notice of any of the shinobi standing in front of the Hokage and her assistant.

The blonde Hokages other pupil was currently facing her from the ranks of the other ninja that she had called together for this impromptu mission. Sakura's sea-green eyes were as hard as agates as she stared at her teacher and leader. Beside her stood Kakashi, looking unusually serious, for once he was on time and his beloved porn was nowhere in sight, well perhaps _on time_ was too generous, but he'd only been ten minutes late. Also on this mission were Shikamaru Nara, Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Ino Yamanaka and of course Jiraiya had insisted on leading it.

He had argued that as was more than likely the Akatsuki had Naruto his help would be needed in the fight as well as afterwards, and while this was certainly a solid argument, Tsunade wasn't fooled – the white haired old pervert looked at Naruto as a grandson, just as he had looked upon Minato as a son.

Jiraiya had taken the fourth Hokage as his student when the boy was very young due to the promise the child had shown. The Third had feared for the boy's safety and had beseeched upon his student to take the boy. Jiraiya had been adamant that he wouldn't until he had met the tiny three-year old. From then on the toad-sage had raised the boy. His death had hit the old man harder than any one who didn't know this could ever know.

"Thank you for coming Shinobi," Tsunade's voice was quiet, controlled, less anyone discover the fear and anger simmering just below the surface. If Naruto was hurt she'd rip those responsible apart with her bare hands. "I believe you already know why you are here; Naruto is missing possibly captured by the Akatsuki."

If possible the expressions of the shinobi in front of her darkened even further, Kiba growled low in his throat as Akamaru's hackles rose and a snarl played about the massive white dog's lips. Hinata made a small noise of distress, her hands flying up to cover her mouth. Ino paled as Shikamaru's eyebrows furrowed, having been in the same genin team she had got to know his mannerisms pretty well and if the lazy genius was worried… Sakura remained still, staring straight ahead, Tsunade wasn't fooled, her entire frame betrayed her tension. Kakashi's only reaction was to turn his head as Jiraiya appeared in the window.

The Toad hermit of the legendary Sannin looked grim, "I've picked up a trail."

* * *

A man was leaning over him, obscuring his visual of the sun, which cast a rosy glow around the mans form. The sun was setting, it was nearly dusk.

A worried expression graced the mans rather thin face, framed by straight locks of black hair. His dark eyes moved over Naruto's form, silently checking for injuries.

"Hey, you ok kid?" he asked concernedly.

Naruto managed to summon the strength to nod feebly. Looking relieved the man fitted his hands beneath Naruto's knees and around his shoulders and lifted. Naruto half expected the man to topple over backwards with his weedy frame and send them both into the water, however, the man bore his weight easily and began to stride back towards the barn.

"Lets get you sorted," he said with a smile.

Once back in the shelter of the barn Naruto was once again laid down gently on the makeshift bed. The man moved back slightly and rested on his heels in a crouch. His dark eyes locked onto the blue of Naruto's and held his gaze unflinchingly.

"I brought you here," he said in answer to the boys unspoken question, waving his hand around to signify just where "here" was. "I found you passed out and brought you here to recuperate."

Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly showing his distrust of the man. He was rewarded with a slight droop in the mans smile.

"I don't expect you to trust me Naruto, but I'm not here to hurt you."

Naruto's eyes widened momentarily before the pull of unconsciousness became too strong. _How does he know my name?_

* * *

Jiraiya set a hard pace through the forest, Kiba and Akamaru up front with him tracking Naruto's scent. Hinata was also up there using her Byakugan to sweep the area for traps. Sakura and Kakashi were next each brooding in silence, joined by the unspoken knowledge that another team-mate might be lost. Shikamaru and Ino brought up the rear.

Sakura's calves began to burn as she leaped off another branch onto the next; she pushed herself harder and caught up with Kakashi. They covered a few meters before the masked man broke the tense silence, "He'll be okay Sakura, Naruto's strong."

Sakura looked at her teacher; she noticed the tension in the masked jaw, the narrowed eyes, the clenched fists, she nodded, "Yeah."

Jiraiya glanced back, Kakashi nodded slightly. Soundlessly the white-haired man dropped to the forest floor the others mimicking his actions.

"What is it?" Sakura asked impatiently.

Hinata turned to her, the veins around her eyes fading back into smooth skin as she spoke, "There's a barn up ahead."

"Naruto's scent leads inside," Kiba grinned ferally.

"We now need to plan an attack," Jiraiya crouched, "We don't know hat we're dealing with so we'll scope it out first, with Hinata and Kiba to check that Naruto is indeed inside with Kakashi and myself as backup, if he is inside that's when you three join us and we'll go in."

"Naruto's kidnappers?" Shikamaru asked quietly.

"Take them down."

* * *

Hurrah, things are starting to happen – where will it go from here I wonder…

Please review


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